Anal C––t Guitarist Josh Martin Dead at 45

Failure Clinic and former Anal Cunt guitarist Josh Martin died at the age of 45 in an escalator accident, his band confirmed. The grindcore musician was a member of Anal Cunt from 1996 to 2001, then rejoined in 2006 and remained until their split in 2011.

Providence Police reported that a man had been seen “clowning around and riding the rail of the escalator” around 10:45PM on May 28 before falling off and landing in the mall’s food court. He suffered severe head injuries, which were treated on the scene, but died after being taken to the hospital.

"It's quite a big drop," Providence Police Major David Lapatin told WPRI, adding that no foul play was suspected. “It's a death, so any death, you know, we take to the extreme in our investigation and we have to make sure if it's accidental, it's accidental.” A spokesperson for the mall described the incident as a “heartbreaking accident.” “Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time,” they said.

Martin made headlines in November 2017 when video footage emerged of him heckling Gene Simmons during a concert in Providence, R.I. Simmons left the stage and went into the audience, calling for the heckler to confront him, after Martin constantly shouted while Simmons was being presented with a key to the city.

Martin appeared on seven Anal Cunt albums, from 1997’s I Like It When You Die to 2011’s Wearing Out Our Welcome. Failure Clinic formed in 2014 and also included Craig Harrison and Rick Johnson. They described their music as “if Lemmy joined Grand Funk Railroad, it would sound like this.”